I know a lot of Guy's Carry small Kidde brand fire extinguishers on there trains & may also have them in the home and shop..kidde is recalling & replacing free of charge some 40 Million dating back to1973
They are the ones with the Plastic handle on top see the kidde website for full details (hande can brake in use)
Call kidde at 855-271-0773 or check the recall on the Kidde website
Just a heads up,they are a great company and replaced two of my own,just had to give them model and serial numbers
And shipping info
Yours in Steam

I filed for two I have in the house, a couple of days ago.
Is a sad comment about our industrial strength greed.
No more that 5 cents of extra plastic would have supplies the necessary strength to the handle and avoided 40 millions recall.
I know how this thing go: The designer makes it right, then the big boss wants to see continuous cost reduction. The middle manager put pressure on the designers, documents the savings 5 cents x 40 millions = 2 million He and the big boss share a good part of it as bonus. By the time the s--t hit the fan they are all promoted or gone to screw up another company.
We use to do this all the times at a big computer manufacturer, sounds like hell.

tornitore45 wrote:I know how this thing go: The designer makes it right, then the big boss wants to see continuous cost reduction [snip].

It has a very respectable name . . it's called "value engineering", but usually the value is going anywhere BUT to the consumer.

"Value engineering" is a euphemism for "cost-cutting." As you noted, "value engineering" rarely adds value to the product, at least from the purchaser's point of view, but does occasionally result in something that is inferior to the original "as designed" product.

Back in my (full-sized) railroad days, I saw the effects of "value engineering" several times in various products, including the use of cast aluminum in place of cast steel in items such as air hose glad hands. The substitution of plastic for glass in signal lenses is another good example of "value engineering." Rarely is the plastic lens the optical equal of the glass version, and plastic deteriorates more rapidly when exposed to the elements. I often see highway traffic signal lenses, especially green ones, that have "yellowed out" and altered the color they are supposed to be emitting.

This is not to say that "value engineering" doesn't have some value. If "value engineering" can reduce the manufacturing cost of a product without reducing its quality, functionality and longevity then value is achieved and some manager somewhere in the company gets an "atta-boy" and possibly a bonus.

One of my professional activities involved Value Engineering and there was nothing in it to make the product cost less.
Not to say that management, marketing, sales, and accountants haven't used it as a cover for overriding sound engineering.
Value does not mean the same thing as cheaper....as most on this list know when they buy tools and material.
Charlie Vlk

Just have to watch on there website I have a ton of them. two said they were not recalled. I called the company and gave the same info to them that I put on the website and they said they were recalled. They said it will take two weeks to get new ones sent.